One Hour's Sleep
by sdbubbles
Summary: Jenny is stressed and tired, so Gibbs has to make her sleep for a little while. Set during 'Once a Hero.'


**A/N: This sort of came out of nowhere...**

**Sarah x**

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><p>"Don't start, Jethro," Jenny warned as he guided her out of the lab. She felt his hand on her back and resisted the urge to smile openly. "Do you have any idea how many people want money from me?"<p>

"Did I say anything?" he demanded. He walked them into the elevator and flicked the emergency stop switch. He did it partly to see her reaction, to gauge how stressed she was. She glared at him and flicked the switch back, but within a second, Gibbs had reversed this action. She was definitely uptight.

"Spit it out, Jethro," she sighed. She needed to get back to work. She had people to reassure and case files to read over and meetings in MTAC. She waited impatiently for him to say something, and was surprised when his hands fell on her shoulders gently.

"Calm down, Jenny," he said. He didn't like it when she got anxious because he knew it made an effect on her health. She suffered from migraines, dizziness and nerve pains. She had even collapsed once, years ago. He noticed that she was leaning on her left leg. "Your leg hurts, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. I took some co-codamol, but all it's doing is making me tired," she sighed. It was unusual for co-codamol to fail to ease the pains in her leg, arm and head. It only occurred when she was really stressed out and uptight.

Gibbs sat down on the floor of the metal box, gesturing for her to do the same. When she refused to do so, he sighed and said, "The world won't fall apart if you take some time out for a few minutes." She smiled slightly and sat down next to him. She really was exhausted, but she knew it was the side effects of the drugs. She had known herself to sleep for twelve hours after taking two of the pills at night.

"How did you know my leg hurts?" she asked him. She hadn't let it show, as far as she knew. She always made a point to hide it from everyone.

"You were leaning on your left, usually means the other one is aching," explained Gibbs gently. "I know you, Jen. You can't hide it from me. I was there when you collapsed, remember?" He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently. He rubbed his thumb on her arm, lulling her into sleep. If he told her what he was doing, she would insist on going back to work, but he knew how much pain she was in. After a couple of minutes, he felt her head fall onto his shoulder. He kissed her hair and smiled down at her. Her face was much more peaceful now. He decided that he'd let her sleep for an hour rather than wake her up and take her to her office.

He pulled her head down to his legs and straightened her body a little along the floor before putting his jacket over her. He was so dead when she woke up. Her hands tightened on his leg as she pulled herself closer to him. Gibbs stroked her hair, wondering if McGee was trying to call the elevator yet. Well, they would all just have to use the stairs for an hour.

He doubted that Jenny slept properly at night anyway. He noticed small black marks under her eyes when he was close to her face now, marks that nobody else noticed. Well, if they did, they kept their mouths shut about it.

The hour passed much quicker than Gibbs thought it would, and by the end of it, Jenny was hugging his leg. He now had to wake her and deal with her annoyance. "Jenny," he said quietly, not wanting to alarm her. "Jenny," he repeated a little louder, shaking her waist gently.

She stirred and was horrified when she opened her eyes. She had fallen asleep, and she was using Gibbs' leg as a pillow. Not to mention the fact that she was clutching to said leg. She sat up and glowered at him. Although she was annoyed, she was grateful that he had made her get a little sleep. She went to stand up, but lost her balance and ended up back on the floor, her hands gripping Jethro's arm for support. She looked in his cobalt blue eyes and was mesmerised by the care they showed in them. She realised that he had deliberately soothed her into sleep for an hour, not caring about her reaction because he knew she would feel better when she woke up.

"Feel any better?" he asked sincerely. She nodded silently, staring at the opposite wall. Why had he bothered with her? It was as if he was trying to tell her that he cared about her, because he had no other way of telling her. He never did things like this. Normally, she would have been left to her own devices but, this time, he had taken the decision out of her hands.

She stood up and sent the elevator back into motion while Gibbs got up to stand next to her. Suddenly, he pulled her head to his and kissed her deeply. She was shocked, but instinct told her how to respond. Her fingers became tangled his hair and she pressed her mouth relentlessly onto his lips. They didn't hear the ding as the elevator reached the squad room, or Tony pressing the button, not realising that the doors had opened. They just continued the assault on each other's mouths.

Tony looked up and was dumbfounded at the sight he discovered. He cleared his throat and they broke apart suddenly, finally noticing that the doors had opened and Tony was there. Jenny handed Gibbs his jacket and said, "I'll see you later, Jethro," as if nothing had happened.

Gibbs stepped out behind her, slapping DiNozzo's head as he went past. "Get it out of your head, DiNozzo!" he called before the elevator doors shut. He almost felt sorry for Tony. How long was he pressing that damn button?

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><p><strong>Hope it was OK!<strong>

**Please review!**

**Sarah x**


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